This blog is my attempt to document our busy but BLESSED lives raising and educating our children for His glory. A child of God, wife to one, and mom to6 fabulous kids. We are in our 10th year of homeschooling using a Classical ~ Charlotte Mason approach. Come along for the good, the bad & the ugly.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

It’s always fun to look back at our year in blogging. Today I am linking up with my Blogging Through the Alphabet friends Meg and Christi and also participating in the Year in Blogging review hosted by Tracy @ Work of Heart and Soul. It’s pretty simple and I hope you will join in on the fun too.

To participate, simply post the title or first sentence of your first blog post from each month. You can also add a favorite picture from each month {my pictures do not always correspond with the blog titles}, even though it doesn’t necessarily go with that post. I would love to see your year in review, link up with Tracy on her blog in the comments.

Thanks for taking the trip down memory lane with me! We have had a truly blessed year! I encourage you to start your blog or to write more on your blog in 2016 so you too can look back at the end of the year.

Saturday, December 26, 2015

I missed linking up last week with the Blogging Through the Alphabet crew,
I fell asleep before getting my post finished, but I am back this week and
posting what I had to say last week here too.

We picked up Marie from school on Thursday, December 17th. It was a wet and
rainy day as we made the 3 hour trek to pick her up. Traffic was strangely thin
and we made good timing there and back. The girls, Micah and I were so excited to see her and bring her home. Marie
chatted eagerly about finals, the end of the school year, and prepping for the
new semester in January on the way home. She told me that she wore her red Santa
hat and red lipstick every single day, from Nov. 30th until her last day of
finals, two days before. Now, I will admit that I was taken aback at the thought
of her wearing red lipstick, especially since she is so fair, however in just 4
days that hat and the red lips would be her saving grace! Let me explain…

Marie left school with straight A’s in her 6 classes she took Fall semester!
Late Sunday night, she was checking her grades again and noticed that her one of
her professors had marked her off –75 points for attendance. I told her to call
in the morning, but to send an email that night. Monday morning the professor
had written back saying that his attendance book showed that she did not sign in
for 8 classes! WHAT!?! The professor could not figure
out why a student with an A average would miss that many unexcused classes, and
said he would only take off –75 points instead of the –300 that would have been
the standard deduction and an automatic “F”.

Marie and the professor spoke and emailed several times over the course of
Monday, when the professor said show me your notes for those days. That’s when
my heart sank…Marie threw away all her notes and papers in preparations for the
new semester in January. EVERYTHING! I did not know
what to tell her, her notes would prove she was in the class those days. She
told the professor where she sat in class each day, and that she wore the Santa
hat and red lips, but he wanted notes to show proof.

I was angry, sad, and discouraged all at once. Marie worked so hard to earn
straight A’s during the semester and it was slipping away over something so
small as her initials. Mr. M was not available by email in those days proceeding
so I could write all I wanted, but I didn’t get a response to know whether or
not he knew what was happening. It was stressful and I probably sprouted a few
more grey hairs! As I dropped McKenzie off at her practice Monday evening, I
prayed that a gymnastics mom I know who has “been there, done that”, with her
daughters was at the gym to offer any advice. Thank youAshley for
your advice! It meant the world to me to hear another perspective and other
options that might be available to try.

And then my phone rang out of the blew while talking to Ashley. It wasn’t a
number I recognized but I answered it anyways and it was Mr. M! Thank you
Lord!!! He had no idea what was going on, so I asked him to just listen to me
for a few minutes so I could talk and get it all out. In the end, Mr. M wanted
the professors email so that he could in turn email him. I love this man! He
listened the whole time I talked in the parking lot in tears.

Mr. M was able to email the professor even though it was after midnight, his
time, and even call me back to let me know it was sent. So Marie and I waited,
all night long for a response from either M or the professor. And as it would
be, email was done again, so we didn’t hear anything on the matter until mid-day
Tuesday. Yes, stressful and more grey hairs.

In the end, the professor “extended grace to Marie, because grace had
been extended to him.” Let the tears flow again and reason #58 why I love
this university! All Marie has to do is go to the professors office in January
with the girls she sat with and have them vouch that indeed she was present. The
professor remembers her in the hat and lips, because she sat in the front row,
every.single.day and stood out from her normal attire and appearance.

So, Marie has learned a life lesson in this whole situation and will not be
throwing away anything until courses are finalized. I am grateful to the
Professor in believing Marie’s word and extending grace to her two days before
Christmas.

In the end, Marie has made the Dean’s list and has earned 5 A’s and 1 B,
(89.6%) in Psychology, which technically should be rounded to 90% but the
professor is being a stickler about rounding up. But you know what?! I know it’s
an A, Marie knows its an A, so we will leave it at that and know that making the
Dean’s List with a 3.81 GPA is a huge accomplishment for the first semester of
Freshman year!

Friday, December 25, 2015

Monday, December 14, 2015

What if I told you there was such a thing as no mess painting? That's right, no cups, smocks, brushes, or a single drop of water needed to paint a masterpiece for your budding Picasso.

A few weeks ago I was sent a 12 piece set of Kwik Stix from The Pencil Grip, Inc. It has since changed the way we paint.

The 12 pack of Kwik Stix contains the following colors to use:

white

yellow

orange

red

pink

lt green

green

lt blue

blue

purple

brown

black

These 12 vibrant colors are contained in a tube roughly the size of a glue stick. It is the perfect size to fit any hand. With a fast drying formula, the colors dry in just 90 seconds after coming in contact with your paper, cardboard, wood, or even canvas media. Just pop the cap off, twist the stick to make the paint rise up and you are ready for hours of fun painting.

We love these paint sticks! They are so much fun and I have no problem letting Micah paint at the easel by himself. I don't have to worry about him spilling, or in his case flinging paint all through the house. He loves it because it gives him some independence while I am teaching or helping one of his sisters. Sometimes it's hard to share, but we are working on that :-)

I look forward to bringing these with us during gymnastics meet season. I know these will be a helpful activity while we are on the road traveling or while at a meet. These would make great stocking stuffers too! In fact, I am ordering an extra set of the 12 pack, so we can try to alleviate too many melt downs. We are also going to be giving Mikayla's and McKenzie's secret gym sisters a set of 12 for Christmas gifts.

And guess what!? I have a set of the 6 pack to give away to my readers! Just leave me a comment below and tell me who you would give the set to. Easy Peasy! The giveaway is only open to US residents at this time and one winner will be picked on Wednesday, December 16th at 6PM Eastern. The winner will have 24 hours to contact me with their address so that we can get your product to you in time for Christmas {I can't promise it will make it}.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

This little girl has got it bad! You know, when you find something you love and you go forth with it 110%. She’s gotten bit by the gymnastic bug a few years ago but now its all starting to come together.

She should come with a warning label some days…CAUTION: WILL FLIP AT ANYTIME! because her feet are rarely on the floor, especially while at home. Many times have I said, “McKenzie please stop cartwheeling {handstanding, leaping, skipping, somersaulting} in the house.”

Because she likes to take pictures I was able to also get some snapshots this afternoon. And yes, she dressed herself today

She has been working hard on her press handstands and regular handstands because she wants to make the TOPs practice team come next June along with the level 3 team. Watching her sister and the other big girls in the gym is really pushing her determination. She may be tiny but she’s got Pee-Wee power and she’s ready for her chance to shine.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Being a boy mom after 5 girls is amazing! This little guy keeps me busy keeping up with him. He loves to climb, play, and explore all day long. He is loud and tough and tumble from the moment he awakes until he lays his sweet head to rest.

Micah loves to do school already too. I captured these shots of him last Friday after McKenzie and I had finished her math lesson with the weigh scale.

It’s almost like he understood the concept of heavier and lighter because he stacked his pennies onto one side just as I had did with McKenzie. He even counted in his own little way with his sweet voice.

My baby boy is growing up into a big boy right before my eyes! I am blessed to be his mother!

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Have you ever put up and taken down a 7.5 foot artificial tree 3 times in a span of 24 hours? What about stringing 850 lights on said tree, 3 times?

By golly, its not for the faint at heart. The girls and I are were having THE worst luck with Christmas lights this weekend. First, our lights blew out after we had them on the main tree Friday afternoon. I went to Walmart Saturday morning after dropping Mikayla off at carpool and bought all new lights. Once we took the tree down and took off all of the old lights and it was completely re-stranded with ll 850 lights, the center pole light cord ripped clear off the strand! Seriously, I almost cried at this point. I was this (<) close to just having our Advent tree up this year, or biting the bullet and purchasing the Basalm Hill tree of my dreams.

So, I trudged back to Walmart and exchanged the lights for a new set while the older girls took down the tree again. Thankfully, the third time was the charm and our big family tree is up and looking as beautiful as the day we bought it 17 years ago.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Over this past year I have had the privilege of reviewing over 50+ products from curriculum to things just for mom. At the end of each review year, the members of the Crew vote for their favorite products. Several of the products listed below are some of our favorites too, be sure to check them out!

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Yesterday we celebrated Madison’s 15th birthday. Not quite sure how 15 years has flown by, but it has and we have been able to see Madison blossom into a fine young lady.

She is not one to want a big party or for us to fuss by having a big celebration. She actually wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese because she knew her younger sisters and brother enjoy it. So, that’s what we did.

This week, we also finished up our bones unit in science for Montana and McKenzie. They both were able to tape their bones to their body outlines. Montana’s body is obviously bigger than the bones we received, but she gets the jist of there location.

One morning, McKenzie came running to me and said that Montana’s leg fell off. What!?! Then I remembered the skeleton and we fixed it by adding more tape. Next week, we start on the muscular section and I have some fun activities planned to round out our school year before Christmas break.

Be sure to check out what everyone else is blogging about this week for letter “B” by clicking on either hosts link here or here.